


Shance week

by sasuhina_gal



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Dance, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Ballet Dancer Lance, DC crossover, Dark Shiro (Voltron), Dog groomer AU, Hufflepuff Shiro, Keith and Shiro are Siblings, M/M, Panio Player Shiro, Ravenclaw Keith, Shance Week 2016, Shiro and Lance are dating before Kerberos, slytherin lance, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-30 12:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8532769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sasuhina_gal/pseuds/sasuhina_gal
Summary: My fanfic submissions for Shance Week
Day 1-Pining/Confession (Dog Groomer AU)Day 2 -Hero/Villain (DC Crossover)Day 3 -Confidence/InsecurityDay 4 -AU Day (Harry Potter AU)Day 5 -Battle ScarsDay 6 -Dance/Fashion/Music (Dance AU)Day 7 -First glance/last touchBouns Day 8-Altean!Lance/Dark!Shiro





	1. Reminder for your heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro has fallen for his dog's groomer. Can he even tell him how he feels?

“Hime! Come girl.” Shiro called, hearing the sound of nails against the hardwood floor coming towards him. He smiled when the large white dog came racing towards him, stopping before she crashed into his legs. “Good girl.” He clipped her leash to her collar and gave her a firm pat on the head.

“Off to go google at the groomer again?” Shiro glared at his brother, who was lying on the couch, his nose in a book.

“No I’m not. Hime actually needs to get groomed.”

“So all the other times you ‘stopped by’, she didn’t need to?”

Shiro felt his face get hot. He wasn’t going to lie, when he met Hime’s groomer, he fell and fell hard. Hime was a Pyrenean mountain dog and her large stature made people fearful, but Shiro had never met a gentler dog. She hated bathes and sitting still, so when she started running off when he tried to groom her himself, he knew he needed help. Finding someone seemed to be harder than he thought. He was about to throw in the towel and do it himself when he found Paladin Groomers and Lance McClain.

Lance had taken one look at Hime and immediately asked if he could hug her. Shiro was surprised as he granted permission and watched the young man, throw his arms around Hime. Loving the attention, she licked his face and knocked him over. He remembered panicking and was about to yank her off, when he heard Lance start giggling.

“That tickles!” he said before pushing himself up enough so Hime could collapse in his lap. He continued giving her pets and cooed over her, leaving Shiro to stare in amazement. “She’s so sweet. I thought you said people were afraid of her.”

“I-I did. Most people are.”

“Oh please, this sweet girl. She looks like she’s just lick the person to death not hurt them.”

He was sure that was his first liking to him. Lance liked to talk but he was a great listener and could make anyone smile. He was really pretty too. His blue eyes always seemed to sparkle and his hands always looked smooth, despite being in water for so long. The more and more he saw him, the more and more he feel. He had even dragged Hime into it as a way to see him. He knew he should at least ask him out, but he froze before the words could even leave his mouth. So instead he just pinned from afar.

“Just…shut up. I’m leaving now.” He led Hime out to his car, where she jumped into the passenger seat and watched her owner as he got in and drove to Paladin Groomers. She was bouncing in her seat as they got close. “Easy girl, I want to see him too.”

Hime quickly jumped out the car when Shiro opened her and ran to the door, sitting and whimpering at her owner to hurry up. Shiro couldn’t help but smile at his dog’s excitement. Though he couldn’t blame her, Lance was always waiting for her with hugs and a bright smile for him.

_‘God, I am infatuated with him. No wonder Keith gags at me. Control yourself Shirogane.’_

He grabbed Hime’s leash and opened the door, the large dog darting in the moment when the door had enough space for her to go through.

Behind the check in desk, Lance brightened when he saw Hime. The Cuban man moved from his post and kneeled, his arms spread open.

“Hi Hime, come gimmie a hug.”

Shiro let himself be tugged closer as Hime ran over and jumped into his arms. He smiled down at the picture of Lance letting himself be slobbered on. He had seen him be just as nice to any other dogs that came in, but he seemed to hold a special spot for Hime.

Lance finally got up and gave Shiro a bright smile, “Hey Shiro.”

“Hi Lance. How are you?”

“Pretty good. Work’s been pretty slow, so seeing this pretty girl makes things better.” He said, smiling down at Hime.

“That’s good. So I guess I’ll leave her to you?”

“Sure, unless you wanna come in the back with me?”

This was new. He usually talked to Lance a bit, left Hime with him and talked to him more when he came to pick her up. “Is that ok?”

“Yeah, we allowed owners in the back if it’s not too busy. If you want to of course.”

“Uh, sure. Why not?” Lance gave him and led them to the back where the sinks and grooming stations were. “Think you can get her up in here? I want to wash her really good and then she needs to get a haircut.” Shiro grunted a bit at Hime’s weight but got her in. he was pulling her collar off when Lance got close to put the harness on. Shiro tried not to stiffen at the sudden close contact.

_‘God, if Keith could see me now.’_ He took a step back and let Lance get started. He watched as Hime put her paws up on the edge as if to get away, but Lance was quick to push her back in. “nice to see I’m not the only one who struggles to get her to stay still.”

“Oh this is nothing. She’s not a fan of the blow drying but she’s good enough when she need a trim. How much trouble did you have before you brought her here?”

“I’d drag my brother to help me, but…” He remembered how quickly Hime would jump out and when Keith tried going after her, how he’d always slip. His brother’s patience level was much lower than his and he’d throw in the towel pretty quickly. “Let’s just say, he demanded that I get Hime proper help or else he wasn’t helping.”

Lance laughed, “Not one for patience is he?”

“No, no he’s not.”

Just then, Hime must have decided she didn’t like how the water was weighing her fur down because she decided to shake. Shiro quickly put his arm up to block his face, but he heard Lance squawk in surprise. He looked to see Lance’s face dripping in water. He used his arm to wipe most of it and then his hair. Shiro couldn’t pull his eyes away. It was cliché he knew, but Lance wet just looked so… he covered his face. God, he was crushing so hard.

“Jeez, you think you’re funny huh? Come on missy, shampoo time.” He watched Lance finish washing Hime and then helped transferring her over to one of the grooming stations. He watched how efficiently and flawlessly Lance’s hands moved as he blow dried Hime and then shortened her coat. He watched him coo at her as he brushed her out and apologized when he was too hard on any mats that had been missed.

He was finally finished as Lance put her collar back on and tied a black bandana around her neck as well.

“There we go sweetie. All done.” He pulled out a treat from his apron, which was gobbled up before he was giving a face full of loving licks again. “Aww, thank you.”

Shiro let out a laugh, “come on Hime, I’m starting to get jealous.”

“Aww, I’ll love you if you need it.” Shiro’s head filled with static for a second. He let another laugh, this one sounding a bit forced as he got Hime down and followed Lance back out front. Lance rang up the total and he handed over his card. While it processed, Lance pulled out a reminder card and wrote something on it.

“So she’ll need another brushing since shedding season is coming up, should I have you done for next week?”

“Yeah sure. Most likely on the weekend.”

“Saturday? I have the day off that Sunday so I wouldn’t be able to do her, but she’s fine with the others.”

Lance was free on Sunday? Then, maybe, he could ask…no. he didn’t have to open his mouth to know he’s freeze again. He let a sigh and nodded, “Saturday’s fine.”

He signed his receipt and accepted his copy and the reminder card. Lance told Hime goodbye before Shiro lead the dog out. When they were in the car, he let out another sigh. Hime whined, sensing her owner’s distress. Shiro gave the dog a small smile before rubbing her ears.

“Guess I couldn’t do it again huh girl? Maybe I should just give it up.” Shiro pulled back into the street and drove back to his house.

Keith was in the kitchen when he got back. Keith looked at him, with curiosity on his face.

“Well, did you ask him out?”

“No, just like last time and the time before.” Shiro pulled out his wallet and pulled the reminder card from his wallet, walking over to the fridge. “I’m beginning to think I’m just stretching myself thin with stress.” He grabbed a small magnet and attached it to the card before moving away.

Keith looked annoyed at his brother, “can’t believe you’re giving up so easily.” Keith opened the fridge and pulled a plastic bag out before closing it back. He stopped when he saw the reminder card. “I thought you said you didn’t ask him.”

“I didn’t.”

“Then why does this reminder card say ‘also remember to ask Lance out on his day off’?”

“What?” Shiro went over and looked at the card. There it was, under the remind for Hime’s next grooming, was a reminder to ask Lance out. And it was in Lance’s handwriting. The number for the groomers was circle with an arrow pointed to Lance’s reminder. Keith looked at his brother over his shoulder.

“God, you’re pinning was so bad, that the object of you affections had to ask you out first.”

Shiro pulled the card off and walked away from the kitchen, “well I’d be rude of me not to honour the reminder.” He dropped himself next to Hime on the couch. “Looks like I don’t have to give up after all, girl.”


	2. Flirt with a mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro aka Superboy, wants to talk to Blue Lion, the archer thief who seems to love to flirt with him

“Listen up everyone,” Allura, or the Space Princess, announced getting the other heroes’ attention. “The Galra have hired different missionaries and thieves to do their work again.” The large holographic screen in front of them brought up a picture of Gyeong Industries. “Geyong Industries just got a shipment of its new nanocomputers. They’re the only company in the world with this and I’m sure many of you can guess how powerful these are.”

“Enough to hack a million computers in seconds.” Pidge said

“Something like that. We’ve gotten word that the Galra have hired people in attempt to steal it. These are some of the people we think are on that list.”

The picture was pushed back as the screen filled with headshots of different mercenaries and thieves. Shiro’s eye twitched as he recognised one. Blue Lion. With arrow technology similar to the Arrow and Speedy, added with his amazing flexibility, Blue Lion had given the Paladins a run for their money more than once. Shiro knew he wasn’t like other thieves. He had tried stealing a precious jewel that was being donated to help with the rebuilding of several children’s hospitals during the ceremony. Shiro went after him and Blue was really close to getting away when they had landed near the party. He took one look at the banner and the kids that were in wheelchairs and on crutches and threw it back to Shiro.

“Wasn’t told this was for kids. Should remind the idiot that hired me I don’t steal from kids.” With that, he took off, his words causing Shiro to hesitate after him.

He had also saved Pidge during a mission gone awry. Allura was so focused on them, that she hadn’t noticed the one minion activating a bomb. He still wasn’t sure why Blue was there but all he knew was when Pidge’s grapple hook was a hair to short and she was about to fall when an arrow came rushing towards her. It broke and wrapped around her wrist, allowing Blue to pull her up to the exit she was aiming for.

He didn’t get him, he worked on his own agenda but if looked like the group would need help, he wouldn’t hesitate to help them. Then there was the fact that he was a massive flirt. He always seemed to be the object of affection whenever they met and weren’t trying to immediately kill each other.

“I can deal with the goons, but I want Pidge and Keith to deal with hacking into the computers to slow them down. Hunk, you, Shiro and I will deal with the thieves. Most of them don’t like working in teams so it’ll be easier to pick them off. Go after anyone who crosses your path but no killing.” She said glancing at Keith and Pidge. Pidge was known as the newest Robin who was scarier than the last. Keith may work under Nightwing, but Red Hood was practically his mentor.

“Tell that to him, I’ll be working on the computers.”

“It’ll be fine, as long as that stupid Lion doesn’t come near.”

Shiro knew he’d have to find Blue Lion first. He enjoyed annoying Keith as much as he liked flirting with him and besides, he needed to talk to him.

* * *

 

Shiro dropped down from the window Allura’s ship dropped him off at. He looked around, perfectly alone. He knew Hunk had been dropped lower and Allura sensed the minds of their targets scattered around the building. She had told him that this was the closest place to the Blue Lion without putting him directly in the line of fire.

He listened closely for anything as he walked down the hall. He spun around when he felt the disturbance of air next to his ear, and grabbed a wrist.

“Oh, look at you.”

He glared down at the blue lion mask that sat on the face of the man in front of him. “Blue Lion.”

“Hello Superboy. You’re looking gorgeous as usual.”

“And you’re going to be arrested. But first I need to talk to you.”

“Oh sweetie, you have my attention always.”

Shiro tried not to blush at the blatant flirting. “It’s about your job.”

“I’m a thief. What, did I steal your heart? No returns sorry.”

“Will you knock it off? That’s not what I meant. You help us when we need it and there are things that you don’t steal, that we think you will. What’s your game?”

Blue Lion stayed silent and then pulled his mask off. Shiro was greeted with the sight of bright blue eyes and tan skin. Blue Lion didn’t take his mask off often, but Shiro wouldn’t admit he liked seeing his real face.

“What’s my game? I need money and the Galra offered.”

“Fine, whatever. But the help?”

“I’ll be honest; you guys are something no one can lose. Plus I think the world would shatter if we lost you, sweetcheecks.”

“Can you stop?”

“Like you don’t like it.”                     

He decided to ignore that. “You save us cause you want to?”

“I’m not that much of a villain. I just take what I need.” Suddenly the alarms went off, startling Shiro. “Oh, looks like that’s my cue. Oh, just heads up, the Galra weren’t after the computer, they were after info on it. If your Robin was quick, she could have stopped it.” Quickly, he pulled an arrow from his quiver and slammed it against the wall. A cloud of smoke covered them, and Shiro let Blue go to move back away from it. He spotted Lion at the window he entered from, his mask back in place.

“I’ll defiantly be seeing you later Superboy.” He blew a kiss and jumped out the window. He ran over and just dodged the arrow that acted as his grappling hook.

_“Shiro, Pidge stopped the hack into nanocomputer. Seems that’s what they were after. Hunk needs help rounding up the hired people. Is there anyone you got we need to come get?”_ Allura’s voice asked in his head. He continued to look at the disappeared speck of the Blue Lion.

“No. didn’t find anyone.” Next time, the next time he’d get the whole story. He wanted to know what else Blue hid behind that mask.

 


	3. Words filled with love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lance confronted a Druid, he was assaulted with the words he didn't want to hear. He tries to hide the pain but Shiro is there when he finally breaks.

_‘Cargo piolet’_

_‘Keith’s shadow’_

_‘Not worthy of attention’_

_‘Expendable’_

_‘Disappointment’_

_‘Useless’_

Lance gasped awake, his breath escaping his lungs quickly. He took deep breaths and turned on his back. It was that dream again. The team had been infiltrating a Galra ship to free prisoners and get info, when he had gotten separated from Pidge. Pidge told him to go ahead and look for prisoners; she could take care of herself. He decided to listen to her and continued down the hallway. The hallway had been empty when all of a sudden, a Druid appeared. It wasn’t Hagger, thank god, but he was still causius. He remembered how badly Keith had been hurt that time Allura was captured. The Druid didn’t do anything but lift its hand and then was gone. He thought that it decided he wasn’t worth the time and disappeared when everything around him turned black and the team were standing around him. They all had disgusted and angered looks on their faces before they spouted out the words that rang in his dreams. He tried not to listen to them. He tried to ignore it. The words seemed to get louder and louder when he screamed. Just as quickly as they were there, the image had disappeared but he could still hear the words ringing in his head. The others had found him, with his helmet off and his hands pressed to his ears, trying to silence the words.

He never told them what the Druid made him see or hear. How could he? It would just solidify the words, if they saw him weak. The memory became a dream that hunted him almost every night. Every day, he’d push it to the back of his mind and put on the fake smile of the over achieving, always exuberant Lance. He honestly didn’t know how much longer he could pretend.

He felt Blue poke at his head, comforting him. She never cared about what anyone thought of him. To her, he was the best piolet for her, nothing would change that. He wanted to believe her, but the memories of the vision rang in his head. He got up, climbed out of bed and pulled on his robe. He opened the door to his room and looked out. Empty, just like…he didn’t want to start that train of thought again.

He wondered down the hall, no destination in mind. The words finally dulled in the background. Lance realised he was near the crystal room. He looked in and saw the star map was activated and in the middle was Shiro.

Having to hear Shiro spit the words at him hurt him more than anything else. Lance had always admired him. Finally getting to meet him and fight alongside him seemed like a dream come true, minus the near death experiences they’d face. He was hesitant when he saw how close he and Keith were but after hearing Keith mutter countless times, ‘my brother is annoy/an idiot’, he got hopeful. The admiration turned into a crush as time went on. Hunk and Pidge, while she gagged, encouraged him to let Shiro know how he felt. But he was too scared to do anything. After hearing those words, he paid more attention. He felt like such a bother to Shiro at times. He tried to ignore the words, he’d heard worse during his time at the Garrison, but hearing it from his friends and his crush seemed much harsher.

_‘I probably shouldn’t bother him.’_ Lance turned when he heard his name. Shiro saw him.

“Hey, sorry.”

Shiro shook his head, “its fine. I couldn’t sleep. Come here and sit.” He said, patting the space next to him.

Lance slowly made his way over and plopped himself down, leaving enough space between them.

“You’re up late. Couldn’t sleep?”

“Uh, yeah. Nightmare.” _‘Like he doesn’t have any. Stop making it seem like your special’_

“Nightmares are never fun. I guess after coming here, childhood nightmares seem like walks in the park. But I still know talking about them makes it less scary.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Allura’s a pretty good listener. I guess she still has nightmares about what happened on Altea, so she understands.”

Nightmares, was he talking about nightmares because of him? Was his strain of pretending weighing down the team? Was he actually being a bother?

“Lance?” he looked up at Shiro who had a concerned look on his face, “you ok? You kind of blanked there for a second.”

“I’m fine. Really.” Lance looked up at the stars, seeing the Shiro pulled up the ones known to earth. “Um, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

Was he really going to? “Um, have you ever felt like…I don’t know, you weren’t worth it?”

Shiro was silent and Lance didn’t look from the stars. He didn’t want to see Shiro get the idea and pretend to comfort him.

“For the whole year I was gone. When Matt and his dad were taken, I kept wondering what I could of done better to help them. If I did anything different, could I have saved them? I guess I could have kept thinking like that but Pidge assured me that if I hadn’t gone, Matt would have been killed in the fights. Heck, whoever went with them could have completely abandoned them.” Shiro put his hand on Lance’s shoulder, pulling Lance’s eyes back down to him, “I have you guys that I can protect and the knowledge that with every fight, I’m a step closer to finding them and giving Pidge her family back.”

“Well yeah, but you’re you. What if, you’ve been told multiple times that you didn’t matter and you’re not worth it?” Lance wanted to shut up; Shiro didn’t need to hear this.

“Then they’re wrong.” Lance didn’t see any lies in Shiro’s face. All he saw was a supportive smile and a look that said, ‘I believe in you’. “I don’t know who told you that, but they’re wrong. Lance, you’re an amazing piolet. Blue could have chosen Keith because he felt her, but she didn’t. She chose you. The way you two work together is amazing. Besides, you’re so self-sacrificing and you care. I know staying here was never your ideal situation, but I’ve seen you keep on a brave face. I actually admire you for that. Honestly, more than once I want to give up, but seeing you keep going, it’s made me stronger.”

Lance sat there in stunned silence. He made Shiro feel brave, him? Lance, the cargo piolet and shadow of Keith? The words that had been rattling in his head finally fell silent and his eyes filled with tears. He hid his face in Shiro’s shoulder and felt Shiro’s arms pull him close.

“So what brought this on?” he asked after a few moments

“The druid. I saw you guys…”

Shiro held him tighter, “we never thought that Lance. None of us, especially not me. We could never think that of you.”

“Promise?” the word came out weakly but Lance need confirmation.

He felt Shiro put his face in his hair, “I promise. And if anyone tells you differently, tell me. I’ll make sure to set them straight. And the others too. You’re important to all of us, Lance. Don’t you ever forget that.”

Lance snuggled his face closer to Shiro. He always knew words had a big impact on people but, he didn’t realise how much better he’d feel just from hearing those words from Shiro. Maybe later, he could finally tell him. Maybe, he’d get the words he wanted to hear. For now though, he was fine, hearing these words from Shiro.


	4. Spell struck by you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Lance accidentally confess to his crush, golden boy of Hufflepuff Shiro, by howler, he's completely embarrassed. What will Shiro do in return?

Shiro watched as the howler in front of him ripped apart and the entire Great Hall became utterly silent. He blinked at the paper before looking up towards the Slytherin table. It wasn’t hard to find the person he was looking for; he just had to look for the one Ravenclaw brave enough to sit at a table of snakes.

Keith Kogan was looking over his shoulder as Lance McClain tried his best to hide behind him. Lance, a Slytherin, sent him a howler telling him how he felt. The howler had also asked if he’d be interested on going on a date on the next Hogsmeade day.

Lance was known amongst the students. Not a lot of them liked him because he was mischievous and a prankster. The added fact that he was in Slytherin seem to spell a bad name for him. Shiro himself didn’t pay much attention to him until he saw him defend Keith from his own housemates. He heard Lance give the excuse of falling down the stairs to other people while also reminding Keith that if he got into another fight, he’d be pulled from the Quidditch team. Lance might fit some of the characteristics of a Slytherin, but Shiro had seen him break those tight fitted rules to be his own person. And apparently, liking a Hufflepuff was one of them.

“He’s not serious right?”

“No way Shiro would go out with him.”

“As if the golden boy of Hufflepuff would bother with a Slytherin.”

Those comments and ones similar started spreading throughout the Hall. He narrowed his eyes. Who were they to decide the type of person he’d date? Lance actually seemed like a nice person and hearing – quite literally – that he was interested made him pretty happy. He’d seen Lance be happy and outgoing and he surprised himself by wondering what it’d be like to have that smile directed at him. He was going to say something but Lance moved first. He bolted from his seat and was out the door in seconds. Keith, after glaring at anyone close by, went after him.

Shiro wanted to go after him but he was surrounded with people asking him what he thought. By the time he was finally able to get away, Lance was gone. And maybe his chance was too.

* * *

 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. I’m such an idiot. What the hell was I thinking?” Lance collapsed on a seat in the abandoned classroom and hid his face in his hands.

“I’ll admit, not your finest moment, but at least it’s out there.”

Lance looked up from his hands to glare at his best friend, “how is that supposed to make me feel better? You heard the whole Hall. They don’t think I’d be a good choice for him.”

“And if he needs the whole school’s opinion on who to date, then Lance I don’t care how much you like him, he’s no good for you.” Keith glared right back his best friend. He watched Lance’s face fall before throwing his face behind his hands again. He kneeled in front of him, and put his arms on his lap to keep his balance. “Lance, listen to me. People would have found out eventually if he agreed. I know this isn’t what you wanted, but you’re a Slytherin. You work with what you’ve got and you make it work for you. And if he decides to be an ass about it, even after you tried, I will personally see to it that his life is a living hell.”

Lance pulled his fingers away from his eyes, but still had his mouth partially covered. “How do you know what to say?”

“Who’s the smart one here?” Keith was gifted with Lance flipping him off, but it didn’t matter. Lance seemed better and that’s what he wanted. He never cared what people said about him being friends with a Slytherin. Lance had more honour and prestige than any of his other housemates. Lance would make it his job to see his friends happy, and Keith was going to return the favour.

It was later during his free period that he hid in an alcove near one of Shiro’s classes. He spotted Shiro coming down the hallway, ignoring the looks a pair of girls gave him as he passed. When he was close enough, Keith reached out and grabbed him by his sweater vest and tie and pulled him into the alcove.

Shiro looked down at the Ravenclaw. His permeant glare made him look much scarier with the hardened look in his eyes.

“Shirogane.”

“Um, hi?”

“Look, I’m going to say this once. Getting Lance to write that letter was a lot harder than you think. He was so sure that the great Takeshi Shirogane would never give him the time of day, but I convinced him differently. Call me stereotypical, but I don’t enjoy being wrong. I will tell you this, if you’re going to let him down, fine. But if you completely shatter him because of what you think everyone else will think, trust me when I say you’ll be looking over your shoulder for a very long time. Do I make myself clear?”

All Shiro could do was nod.

“Good, now get lost.” Shiro quickly left the alcove and watched Keith leave it and head down the opposite hallway. He was a bit surprised that Keith of all people came to talk to him about Lance. If Keith felt that much of a need to make sure Lance was happy, he seemed to have underestimated how much Lance truly valued his friends.

_‘Another thing people don’t seem to know about him. I want to accept, the question is, is Lance going to accept after what happened this morning?’_

* * *

Lance stood by the doors of the Great Hall, dressed in his muggle attire for the Hogsmeade outing. He kept biting at the strings of his hoodie in agitation when Keith, tired of watching his best friend eat through his clothes, yanked the string from his mouth.

“Enough. Lance, will you calm down?”

“How can I? What if this is just some prank from one of the other students?”

“Right, because they would of somehow gotten Shiro’s own owl, who apparently only listens to him, to take a note to you yesterday morning asking if you would meet him at the Great Hall the same day you wanted to ask him out on. You’re right, total trick.”

“The sarcasm isn’t needed. Besides, what if he’s only coming here because you told him to?”

Keith glared at Lance, almost insulted at the accusation, “I told him if he was gonna let you down, to do it easy. At no point did I tell him to go out with you if he didn’t want to.”

“Keith, you practically threatened him.”

“No I didn’t!”

“You cornered him.”

“Um…” the two turned to see Shiro standing there in front of them, looking slightly sheepish, “if this is a bad time?”

“Uh, no. Hi.” Lance said, turning slightly red.

“Hi. Um, I want to apologize.” Lance’s face fell. Here it was, the rejection. “I should of stopped the other students from saying those things about you after the uh, you know. I do want to go out with you, mostly because I want to, not because of what everyone else thinks. If the offer still stands, I’d love to go to Hogsmeade with you.”

Lance stood there completely stunned, leaving Shiro slightly worried. Was he too late?

“If you don’t, I get it…”

Keith rammed his elbow into Lance’s side. “Ow! I mean, yes. The offer, it uh, still stands.”

Shiro’s face filled with relief and a bright smile came to his face, leaving Lance to turn even redder. “Great. Um, we can walk around and then head to Three Broomsticks for lunch if that’s ok with you?”

Lance seemed almost incapable of making words so Keith took pity on him. “That’ll be fine. He’d enjoy that. I’ll take my leave then. Later Lance.” With that, he headed off with the rest of the crowd. He had hopes that Lance would be fine. If not, he was more than willing to knock a few heads.

Shiro watched as the black hair teen disappeared in the crowd and looked back at Lance. “He’s interesting isn’t he?”

Lance had focused his eyes downwards, “yeah. That’s Keith. Um, I’m sorry about him cornering you. I didn’t tell him to do that.”

“It’s fine. It just means he cares for you. Um, should we go?”

Lance nodded and followed Shiro out the school. When they arrived at Hogsmeade, Shiro asked where he wanted to go first.

“Uh, Honeydukes I guess. I wanted more sugar quills.” His date gestured for him to lead on and they soon got to Honeydukes. The shop was almost packed, so Lance made a beeline to the Sugar quill options. Shiro watched Lance’s eyes glance over all the options before starting to pull different ones.

“That’s a lot of sugar.” Shiro noted

“Yeah, my dad has a huge sweet tooth. All the kids got it from him.”

“All the kids?” he asked as Lance went over to the Ice Mice.

“Yep, all 7 of us. Of course, I’m the only wizard in my whole family, so it’s always fun to see their reactions whenever I bring this stuff home.”

“Half-blood?”

Lance nodded. “When my older brother wasn’t born with magic, my mom was willing to live like a muggle. Then I came in and caused some of my stuff toys to suddenly levitate.”

“I guess living with the rest of the Slytherins can be a bit hard.” Shiro asked as they headed to the register.

“Yeah, I mean some of them are really big on blood purity but we have half-bloods in the house as well, so it’s not that bad. It doesn’t help that everyone else puts all Slytherins in this box of blood purists. Kinda makes it a bit hard to be friends with anyone outside your house.”

Shiro led them back outside and got a better look at Lance. He sounded nonchalant about the situation, but Shiro could see that it bothered Lance a lot.

“You and Keith seem to be good friends though. I’ve gotta admit, when I heard the arguments that you two would get in, I was sure you two hated each other.”

“Me, hate Keith? No, I was a bit jealous in the beginning I guess, but I didn’t hate him. We have a lot of classes together and he was always better than me. Then when he approached me to tutor him in DADA, we started getting along a bit better. Then these morons from my house decided to corner him and of course he already had warning for getting in enough trouble, so I had to go and help him.”

That part he knew. He had been there when Keith was cornered by the two older Slytherin students. He was about to step in when Lance came barrelling in. he casted a nasty hex on the two and pulled Keith away. He watched as the same two gave Lance a huge problem and when he heard Keith ask why he didn’t turn them in, Lance just said, “I was saving you. I don’t need to bother with those guys, no matter what they do.” Lance was willing to put up with harassment from his own housemates to help his friends.

“You know, I didn’t really pay much attention to you at first. Everyone said how much of a ‘complete Slytherin’ you were being and saying I shouldn’t bother with you. I would have listened if I didn’t see you defend Keith that day.”

“You saw that?”

“Yeah. I paid more attention after that. You never cared what people thought and you did what you wanted within reason. And seeing you smile,” Shiro felt his face flush as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, “I really liked seeing you smile. I guess I was a bit scared of approaching you myself.”

“Dude!” Shiro looked at Lance, who was hiding his face behind his Honeydukes bag. He could see the tips of his ears red. “y-you can’t say things like that suddenly.”

Shiro grinned at Lance’s embarrassment. “But I meant it.”

Lance pulled the bag away from his face and glared half-heartedly at the Hufflepuff, “that still doesn’t matter. That fight happened during my second year and I’m a fifth year now. We could have been dating since my third year if you said something. I’ve been crushing on you since I first saw you at the first Duelling Club practise.”

Shiro took Lance’s free hand and gave him a smile, “guess I’m going to have to make up for lost time huh?”

Lance felt his face get warm again. “What about everyone else? You know the one’s one think I’m not good enough for you?”

“I’ll tell them to use the Point Me spell to find where I asked for their opinion.”

Lance burst out laughing, “Oh Golden Boy’s got sass. A bit weak, but trust me, a bit more time around me and that’ll totally change.”

Good thing he wasn’t going anywhere.


	5. Kissing the scars away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance can't sleep so he pays attention to Shiro's scars. All he can see is how far Shiro has come.

“Where did you get this one?” Shiro asked as he rubbed an oddly shaped scar on Lance’s wrist. It had been a long day for the Paladins. A fleet of Galra ships appeared and they had spent the better part of the day destroying them, even when they formed Voltron. They didn’t want a mishap with the portal again so they had to get rid of them. They were all stressed and tired when they finally got back, that Allura gave them dinner and insisted they head to bed. Even Pidge took the chance to crash early.

Lance dragged Shiro to his room and after getting him in pyjama pants, snuggled up against him under the covers. Lance still felt buzzed off the adrenalin from the fight, so sleep felt far away from him. Instead, he was interested in the scars that were spread sporadically on his boyfriend’s chest. He knew that Shiro didn’t have the best memories from them, so he evened the score by telling him about his own scares.

“I was climbing a tree to get my sister’s toy that this brat who came over for a play date threw up there and fell. Bone broke and the split through my skin.”

“Lance, you had to fallen really far for that to happen.” Shiro looked shocked at his boyfriend

Lance shrugged, “I mean I guess. I was a bit more worried about making sure Stella got her toy back.”

Shiro couldn’t help but smile. Of course Lance would be more concerned about the toy then his injury, if it meant his sister’s happiness. He placed a kiss on the scar and rubbed it gently. “Your sister is lucky to have you. I’m sure she was worried though.”

“Cried a bunch when I finally got back from the hospital, but I told her she could stick close to me if it made her feel better. She stuck to me like a kola.”

Shiro laughed, able to picture a small child clinging to Lance. Lance gently pulled his hand from his grip and poked at a scar on his shoulder. It looked older than the others, so Lance felt ok asking about it.

“What’s this one?” Shiro turned his shoulder slightly to get a better look and let out a small laugh.

“So, you know Keith’s hoverbike?”

“The one he drove over a cliff to save us.”

“Yeah, probably really good that I was unconscious during then, because when he was first rebuilding it, we had to sneak out to test drive it for the first time. His driving was much worse back then and we almost crashed much worse than we did. He got a cut on his leg while I had to come up with an excuse as to why I couldn’t lift my arm very high at my marksmanship practise the next day.”

Lance burst into giggles. Oh, he was so using that against Keith. “Guess you got off lucky then huh?”

“It’s not something I’d like to experience again anytime soon, no.”

Lance continued to giggle as he planted a kiss on the scar. He hid his face in Shiro’s shoulder trying to calm down. Shiro took the opportunity to pull the Cuban teen closer. He rubbed his metal hand down his back, watching as Lance’s muscles twitched at the slightly warmer than usual metal. He did focus on a small cluster of burn scars in the middle of Lance’s back.

“Are these from the blast? I thought the pod would have healed them.”

Lance calmed down and noticed the guilty tone in his boyfriend’s voice. Even after so long, he knew that the Castle takeover still hunted Shiro’s memories. He felt like he couldn’t save Pidge’s family and the takeover made him feel just as helpless then.

“It healed most of the damage. There are a few small ones that scared over, but its fine. I like my battle scars.”

Lance had gotten into so much when he was younger, constantly getting scraped or hurt. His mother would tell him that the scars showed how brave he was. He didn’t love how he got some of them yeah, but he never saw a reason to be embarrassed about them. Shiro planted a kiss on Lance’s shoulder, not in the mood to flip him over just to reach them. Lance closed his eyes in bliss for a moment before he fingered the scar on Shiro’s nose. It was the one everyone noticed first.

“What about this one?”

“Not sure, but I think it’s around the same time I lost my arm.” Shiro’s face started to close off, trying to block the memories that hunted him. Lance saw this and planted a large kiss right on the scar, making Shiro scrunch up his nose. Then he spread kisses on Shiro’s arm, where the metal one started. He continued to follow and plant kisses on every scar he could get to, even the ones he already got.

“Hey, I thought it was your turn to tell me about your scars.”

“I know, but I want to make every scar you have better.”

“And how do you plan that?” Shiro asked, actually curious as to what Lance had in mind.

“I’ll kiss every scar you have every day, until you look at them and only see the love I give them. Your scars, they show that you survived everything. Keith, the Galras, this war. I know you don’t like some of them, but I want you to look at them as things that help push you farther.”

Shiro looked down at Lance with a gentle smile. Of course, that was just like Lance, always trying to make another person feel better more than himself. It wouldn’t surprise him if he kept true to his word.

And he did. Lance liked kissing the scar on his nose the most because no matter what, Shiro would always scrunch his nose and Lance thought it was the cutest thing. Whenever he’d see him, whenever he was going off on his own, even when they were heading into battle, a kiss would always be planted there.

And Shiro started to look at his scars differently. He could never forget the memories that the scars carried but he saw something else in them now. With the scars, he survived the fights. He survived getting away and getting back to earth. He survived heading back into space to stop the people who gave him the scars. He survived to meet Lance and the others, to fall for Lance and to have every scar given love and attention he never gave them.

And he knew with each bit of love Lance gave them, he feel even more in love with him.


	6. Dancing for you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance met a cute keyboard player at a club the night before. Imagine his surprise when the pianist he swapped spit with walks into the dance studio.

Lance hid a yawn as he walked into class. He dropped his dance bag at his place by the bare and stretched.

“You look tired.” He turned to see Allura, her white hair already tied into a ballerina bun. “Did you go out last night?”

“Maybe? Ok, so Rolo dragged me out because I thought I wouldn’t have a bad schedule today.”

Being in a dance company, the dancers had such a full schedules. Class in the morning, different rehearsals in the afternoon and shows at night. “After class I’ve got practise for Nutcracker and then after I’ve got Alice. I don’t have to worry about any performances tonight thankfully. You?”

“Sugar Plum fairy practise after and I have to watch a rehearsal. I’m the understudy for the White Cat in Sleeping Beauty so I’ll be here all night. But I’m a bit more interested in you. I know you, you don’t usually stay out late even when you have light schedule.”

Lance felt his face turn red as he remembered the night before. He looked around for any listeners and pulled the neck of his sweatshirt away from his neck.

Allura’s eyes widened at the dark bruise at the base of Lance’s neck. “Oh my goodness. What happened?”

He felt his face get warmer as he leaned down pull his shoes from his bag and pull them on. “There was a band at the club last night and I somehow ended up backstage.”

“How?”

“Rolo ditched me about 2 seconds in. anyway, I was looking for him and the bartender said I had a better chance of getting heard on my phone if I went near there. The security guard must have thought I was with the band, because they were waiting for someone, so he let me in.”

“And gave you a hickey with it?”

“No.” Lance, with his shoes on properly, started to do his basic stretches. “I met the band and explained to them I got a bit lost and minus the kinda rude one with a mullet, they were actually really nice. They let me stay there until their show. I decided to watch them, and they were really good.”

“I’m still not seeing how the hickey comes into this.”

“I’m getting there. After their performance, I talked to them some more, but the keyboard player mostly. He was really hot. We talked and then flirted and then kissing happened. It moved really quickly and then that happened. Though, it was really good.” Lance dazed off as he remembered the hard press of lips against his and the feeling of the grip on his hips. It wasn’t really like him to just start making out with someone without a bit of alcohol in him but he didn’t regret it at all. They exchanged phone numbers but he was going to have to wait until after rehearsals were over to call.

“I can’t believe you made out with a total stranger.” Allura said, shaking her head. She did lean closer, “he was good though right?”

“Oh yeah.”

The teacher walked in and greeted the dancers. His presence prompted students to pull off the heavier clothing from their practise outfits. Lance himself pulled his baggy sweatpants to reveal his tight ballet shorts. He turned to face his teacher when he saw another person walk in. his eyes widened and he ran over to where Allura stood, putting her weight on her pointe shoes.

“Allura, it’s him.”

“What?”

“Everyone, we have a guest piano player. This is Takeshi Shirogane or Shiro if you want. Those who have Alice in Wonderland rehearsals after class will be working closely with him.”

“That’s the guy I met last night.” Shiro looked much different without his skinny jeans and ripped shirt. He was dressed in slacks and a nice shirt, the white tuff of hair swooped back instead of hanging in his face. He still had his plain black gauges in, making Lance feel slightly weak. He had been tugging at those with his teeth yesterday.

“The one who gave you the hickey? Wow Lance, I’m impressed. He’s rather good looking. I thought you said he was in a band?”

“He is, he plays keyboards. I had no clue he was interested in classical paino.”

Shiro was glancing around the room when his eyes stopped at Lance. Lance felt frozen under his gaze. Seeing what was happening, Allura lifted Lance’s hand and waved it for him.

“Allura!”

“He recognises you. I say take the opportunity to say hi.” Of course, Shiro took the opportunity before he was needed at the piano to walk over. Lance felt so nervous. He never told Shiro he was ballet dancer.

_‘What if he’s a jerk about it? What if he doesn’t want me to call him?’_

“Lance, hi. I’m so happy to see you.” Shiro said as he stood in front of him. Shiro was surprised to see Lance when he walked into the studio, but he wasn’t against it. The night before, meeting Lance and getting to know him, he enjoyed it. And Lance’s kisses, he didn’t want to lose that. He was happy that the dancer expressed interest in seeing him again, but he didn’t realise just how soon he’d see him.

Lance looked a bit lost for words, so Allura jumped in, “Hi, my name’s Allura. Nice to meet you.”

“Shiro, pleasure to meet you.”

“So, uh, Lance here tells me he met you last night when you were performing with a band?”

“Uh, yeah.” Shiro ducked his head a bit, looking embarrassed, “I know it’s strange for a classical piano play like me to be interested in playing rock, but it’s a way to let loose.”

“No, of course. I understand completely. I bet you were surprised to Lance here.”

“A bit.” He should have guessed though. Lance’s long legs were meant for the delicate moves of ballet.

“Shiro, to the piano please. Everyone, we’ll start with the plie routine from yesterday. In position please.”

“Uh, I’ll see you after?” Lance nodded and watched as Shiro smiled at him and went over to the piano.

“Allura, how the hell am I going to survive class with him here?”

“Not only that, but he has to pay special attention during Alice rehearsal.”

“Don’t remind me. Fuck!”

“Mr. McClain, get into position now!”

Lance jumped at the teacher’s orders and ran back to his place at the bar. He peeked around a few people to see Shiro looking straight at him with a smile on his face. Suddenly seeing him here threw Lance off. Shiro didn’t seem like he was making fun of him. He almost looked impressed? Lance shook the thoughts away, focus on class. He could think about after.

Class felt longer than usual. When they were in centre, whenever he was close to the piano, he had to force himself not to keep looking at Shiro. Finally, everything was over and he had to cool down a bit before heading to rehearsal for his doll dance in the Nutcracker. He pulled his sweats back on and pulled on a pair of Uggs, not in the mood to pull his shoes off. Allura gave him an encouraging look as he approached the piano.

“Hey.” Shiro, who was putting away the music sheets, looked up and gave him another smile.

“Hey, you looked good out there.”

“It was just class. Um, so…”

“I would have told you I’d be here but you never mentioned you were a ballet dancer at this company, so I didn’t know. I wish I knew, I could have helped you get back earlier so you’d get enough sleep. I know how long company dancer’s schedule can be.”

“Didn’t think a rocker knew that.”

Shiro looked slightly embarrassed, “I play classical piano at a theatre but I just recently got offered a job here at the company. I’m here to try and see if I can keep up with the music I have to learn for everything. The band is something I do so I can breathe every now and then.”

Something accrued to Lance, was Shiro embarrassed with his love of rock? And here he was thinking that Shiro wouldn’t like him doing ballet.

“That’s pretty cool. Um, so if you’re not busy after the Alice rehearsal, did you want to go get coffee? You did give me a hickey, I think it’s the least you owe me.”

The flush didn’t leave Shiro’s face as he nodded. The smile he got in return made his embarrassment worth it.


	7. Keeping Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last thing Lance got to do with Shiro before he went on the Kerbreos mission, was kiss him. Shiro promised he'd gett another as soon as he got back. But then he was gone. But Shiro kept his promises, didn't he?

_ ‘He’s in his room. Guards are switching in 2 minutes, go now’ _

When that text came through, Lance threw his covers off and pulled on his blue high-tops. He looked across the room where Hunk was snoring away. He had to remember to get back before Hunk woke up. He already suspected something and honestly, he loved Hunk, but the guy could not keep a secret. He snuck out of his room, keeping his ears open for the guards. He was able to evade the guards all the way to the teacher areas. He put in the lock code and entered the building quietly. He didn’t spot anyone in the hallways, and quickly sprinted to the door he need.

He knocked on the door, and looked over his shoulder, hoping he didn’t alert anyone. The door opened and on other side, Takeshi Shirogane looked down at his boyfriend in surprise.

“Lance? What are- get in here.” He pulled the student in, before making sure no one had seen him.

Lance couldn’t help but smile at Shiro’s caution. When he got the news that he’d be going on the Kerberos mission, Shiro was moved to the teacher barracks, despite him only really being at a graduate student status.

“Lance, what are you doing here? You could have been caught.”

Lance wrapped his arms around Shiro’s neck and looked up sweetly at his boyfriend. “Come on, I may be a cargo piolet but I have pretty good grades at stealth.”

“It doesn’t matter. What if I had someone in here with me?”

“Other than Keith?” Keith Kogane, his rival, was also his sort of friend. He was Shiro’s younger brother and they didn’t get along at first. But they put up with each other after Lance meet Shiro and they became good friends. It was actually Keith who told Lance to confess to Shiro so he wouldn’t have to be in the middle of his pinning. It worked out and now the two looked out for each other.

“Of course. Lance, sweetie, as happy as I am to see you here, you could get in big trouble. I gave this speech to Keith too.”

“And you know how similar we are in stubbornness. You’re leaving tomorrow, were you coming to say goodbye?”

“Yes, tomorrow, in the morning.”

“Well, why not keep me around till then?” a flirtatious smirk came to Lance’s face.

Shiro sighed, “I’m not getting rid of you am I?”

“Not today, after you get back or if I’m lucky, ever.”

Shiro couldn’t help but laugh and wrapped his own arms around Lance’s waist before pulling him into a hug. “Ok, fine. I won’t get rid of you. Guess I’ll have to keep you forever.”

Lance hid his smile in Shiro’s neck. He never wanted this moment to end. He would miss Shiro while he was gone, but he knew he’d be safe. The night continued with Lance talking to Shiro, while sneaking kisses from him whenever he could. When morning came, Lance didn’t want to leave the warm bed.

“You need to go before Hunk wakes up.” Despite saying this, Shiro had yet to loosen his grip on Lance or detach himself from his back.

“I don’t wanna. Wanna stay with you.”

Shiro squeezed Lance’s waist even tighter and placed a kiss on the back of his neck before he dug his face into the side of his neck. He didn’t want to move either. Moving meant having to get ready and that meant having to leave Lance. He knew that this moment was coming but it didn’t hit him until now. It would be at least a year until he could finally be in Lance’s arms again. There wouldn’t be any video calls because of interference; it’d be a waste of time. If he focused on finishing quickly, he’d be back with Lance before he knew it.

“Come on. Let’s go.” He planted another kiss on Lance’s neck before finally getting up.

Lance moaned in annoyance but followed. He was dressed and ready when he turned back to Shiro and pulled him into a hug. “I’m really happy for you, don’t think I’m not. But I really don’t want you to leave.”

Shiro hugged his boyfriend back just as close, “I’m gonna miss you too. The sooner I go though, the sooner you’ll be sneaking back here to sleep with me.” He pulled back far enough to rest their foreheads against each other. “I won’t forget you and the first thing I’m going to do when I get back, is find you, wherever you are, and give you a big kiss.”

“Just like this one?” he pulled Shiro down on his lips, kissing him, their lips sliding against each other.

“Exactly like this one.” Shiro said on his lips before focusing on the kiss again. While the two would have loved to stay there, Lance needed to leave.

“Promise I’ll get that kiss?”

“I promise.”

Lance was sure he’d have that promise kept. He was sure, until he saw the news about 5 months later.

“The Galaxy Garrison mission to the distant moon Kerberos is missing and all crew members are believed to be dead. The Galaxy Garrison has said that the crash was presumably cause by piolet error.”

Piolet error, Shiro was the piolet of the mission. There was no way it was Shiro’s fault. It couldn’t be, he refused to believe it. He had to keep the promise in mind. Shiro would come back, he needed to. Shiro didn’t break his promises.

_‘Shiro, you said you’d be back to kiss me. Don’t tell me you lied, please don’t.’_

* * *

 

“That’s Shiro, the piolet of the Kerberos mission. That guy’s my hero.” Not totally the truth, but Lance couldn’t exactly yell out ‘that’s my boyfriend that’s been missing for a year’. It took everything to act calm. All he wanted to do was yell that Shiro was back. He didn’t care about the cyborg arm or the scar on his nose or the white streak in his hair. He was alive and he was talking. Disoriented a bit, but he was talking about Voltron, so he hadn’t completely lost it. But wait, “what are they doing? The guy’s a legend, they’re not even going to listen to him?” why weren’t they asking what happened? Why were they assuming that Shiro was the enemy? He agreed with Pidge, they needed to get him out.

Thankfully, like always, Keith had his back, even if he didn’t know it. He was still pissed that the only person that understood what happened took off, but it didn’t matter. They were going to save Shiro. Even if Keith acted like an ass, pretending not to recognise him. Point was, they got him out. They got chased, defiantly. And they also had heart attacks when Keith drove them over a cliff. But they got him out and that’s all that mattered.

“Hey, I need you to help me with something.” Keith asked Pidge and Hunk

“What about Shiro?” Pidge asked

“He’s not waking up yet. Cargo piolet here can look after him. Come on.”

Lance glared at Keith but all Keith did was give him a look. A look that said ‘hurry up’. It was one he got when they were both sneaking back from Shiro’s room and Keith was not in the mood to get caught with is brother’s boyfriend. Lance was surprised a bit that Keith allowed him to be alone with Shiro first. He was sure the ex-student would be hovering until his brother woke up and then stick to him like glue. He was thankful though.

Shiro was still passed out on the couch, the anaesthesia still working through his system. Lance’s hand brushed over the metal arm. What happened to him? How did he get hurt? The aliens he had been talking about, had they kidnapped him? He let out a small laugh.

“It’s just like you to get kidnapped and then come back trying to save everyone. Doesn’t matter what happened to you, everyone needs to be safe.” He brushed his hand through the white part of Shiro’s fringe. It was weird seeing it white, but being abducted by aliens, that had to be stressful. “It’s probably so selfish of me, but you promised you were coming to kiss me when you got back. I thought you were going to break your promise. I’m just so glad you’re back.” He couldn’t help himself, it had been a year. He leaned in and kissed Shiro. He wasn’t expecting to be kissed back but he felt Shiro breath and press back. He pulled away to see Shiro’s eyes fluttering. “Shiro?”

The former missing piolet blinked, groaning a bit. He finally opened his eyes and look at Lance. “Lance? Is-is that you?”

“Yeah, I’m right here.”

“I’m not dreaming again am I? I can’t take pretending to see you again.”

Lance took Shiro’s face in his hands, feeling Shiro put his own over them. “It’s really me. You idiot, I was so worried. And you didn’t keep your promise.”

That smile. It was that smile, the one he had only for Lance. Even after being through what Lance assumed was hell, he still had that special smile. “I’m sorry. I really am. Let me make it up to you.”

“It’s not your fault. You’re ok and that’s all that matters. Now shut up and kiss me, like you promised.” Shiro pulled him down to meet his lips, pouring all his emotion into it.

As he enjoyed the kiss, Lance knew things weren’t going to be the same. They were going to have to find this Voltron and deal with whatever happened to Shiro when he was gone. But he didn’t care. He’d stand by Shiro, no matter what. That was a promise.

 


	8. Can we trust you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Prince of Altea and Blue Paladin of Voltron, Lance, is almost killed in a Galra ship. But he's saved by someone, a human with Galra eyes. Question is, why?

_“Lance, look out!” Keith’s voice rang as the room around the Altean prince started to come down. Lance was frozen as he watched a part of the roof came closer when he was shoved out of the way. He slammed into the wall, out of the way and he could feel something hovering over him. He opened his eyes and looked up to see golden eyes looking back down at him. Galra golden eyes. He pressed himself closer to the wall and tried to reach his Bayard, when he hesitated. The person on top of him was human. He had black hair cropped short but white fringe hanging in front of his forehead. The scar on his nose was so prominent on his face. He noticed that his left arm was made of metal. It was nothing like Sendak’s arm, it was sleeker, minus the claws it had. Noticing the prince’s attention, the human looked down at him and gave him a smirk, revealing the fangs he had._

_“Can’t have his highness getting hurt now can we?”_

_“Lance? Where are you?” that was Hunk. He wanted to answer, but what was this guy gonna do?_

_He just continued to smirk and his arm, the robotic one, turned purple. He flinched away from it when the guy turned and slashed at the rubble behind him. The power of the hit broke most of it, enough for the others to know where he was. The guy looked back at him and gave him another smirk before jumping away. He heard Hunk and Keith shout out before hearing Hunk’s Bayard go off._

_He had helped him. That Galra human person, had helped him. He could have let him get crushed, he could have ripped his throat out, he could have held him hostage, but he didn’t. Why?_

_“Lance!” he looked up to see Keith, hung over the debris, his hand out, “are you ok? Come on, we’re getting out of here.”_

_He felt dazed as he grabbed Keith’s hand and was pulled from the rubble. The question continued to ring throughout his mind, why?_

* * *

 

“Lance?” he looked up at his sister, who was looking at him in concern, “are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Did you get him in ok?” when they were leaving, Hunk apparently discovered a mode on his Bayard, stun. He got a lucky shot and the person was hit. They would have left them there but Hunk recognised him. Takeshi Shirogane, a piolet on the same mission that Pidge’s father and brother went missing on. But he wasn’t the same anymore. His grey eyes and patient personality had been replaced by something the Galra messed with. Pidge begged Allura that they bring him back, hoping they could get answers about her family. She agreed only if he was put in the Castle’s dungeon. They would have put him in one of the memory pods but Allura didn’t want him anywhere near Sendak.

“Yes, he woke up just as we got him in though. I don’t like him being able to talk. I know the Galra had to have messed with him enough that he’d try to hurt Pidge.”

“She’s smart. I think she can handle herself. But Allura, what about…?”

“We’re not talking about Lance. Don’t even mention it to the others.” Allura’s face hardened

“But if –”

“No. he’s not human anymore. It’s because of the Galra this whole war started. It’s because of Zarkon betraying us. I don’t care, I refuse to believe it.”

Lance fell silent. Black, the leader of the lions and the head of Voltron, had no piolet. Allura tried but she didn’t respond enough. They were without Voltron, but somehow they had survived. They were able to fight fleets and get away and still be able to liberate planets. Fighting RoboBeasts were a hassle but they survived. When Shiro, as the others called him, entered the castle, Black had perked up. Blue told him that Black was saying her piolet was near. And while Allura heard it, she refused to believe it. She wasn’t trustworthy of the Galra because of what happened with Zarkon.

But he couldn’t be all that bad. He saved him and didn’t kill him. There had to be something about him. When Allura left him to rest in his room, he waited until he was sure before sneaking down to the dungeon. It wasn’t hard to find him; it was the only cell with activated bars.

He stood in front of the cell and looked inside. Shiro was sitting in the middle of the room, his eyes closed but when lance got close, they opened revealing his gold eyes.

“Well hello your highness. What are you doing down here near the big bad Galra?”

“Shiro, was it?”

“It’s Kuro actually. Shiro is now but a muted voice in my head. Kind of like that one that’s been here since I woke up here.”

Black, she was trying to talk to Shiro – Kuro – despite Allura saying no. Zarkon was a Galra and Black rejected him. Kuro had to be different for her to talk to him. “That’s the Black Lion. Looks like she recognises you as her Paladin, which is why I’m here.”

Kuro stood up and got close to the bars, leaning his metal arm on one of the bars. They wouldn’t hurt him unless a switch was activated. “Your sister was pretty insistent that if Shiro didn’t come back, I was on a one way trip to deep space. Why is the Black Lion interested in me?”

“My sister didn’t tell you about Black because of who you worked with. But here’s what I don’t understand. You could have killed me, but you didn’t.”

Kuro gave him a small smirk, “be a shame to let a pretty face go.”

Lance tried not to blush. He could flirt up a storm, but get a complement and he was red. “Be honest.”

Kuro’s face turned solemn, “I might be able to ignore your teammates’ friend, but they’re one thing we agree on. Zarkon will not win. With the way he runs things, he’s going to fall before he knows it, from the inside mostly. And Hagger? I want nothing more than to rip that witch’s throat out. I don’t appreciate her ‘tests’ she runs on me.”

“If you were to help us, and lead Voltron, will you completely turn your back on the Galra?”

“I’m a bad person, how do you know I wouldn’t turn my back on you?”

“You saved me,” Lance pointed out. “If you really trusted the Galra, you would have let me die.”

Kuro stared at Lance. He knew this was a big risk, but he had trust that he could trust Kuro, just a bit.

“I lead Voltron, and I defeat the Galra? And you can keep your sister away from me?”

“I’ll be honest; it’ll take a lot for the others to trust you completely, but yes. Promise to help us, and we can promise to help defeat the Galra. Deal?” Lance held out his hand.

Kuro looked at it and his smirk came back on his face again. He almost looked mischievous. “Yeah, I do things a bit differently.” His other hand shot out and Lance felt something grab the back of his head before yanking him forward. His lips collided with Kuro’s, their teeth clanking. He felt on of Kuro’s fangs cut his lip before it was sucked on. Kuro let him go and Lance pulled away, taking a huge breath. Lance felt his whole face turn completely red while Kuro looked completely smug.

“Lance!” Keith had coming looking for the prince and found him red-faced in front of Kuro’s cell. “What are you doing here? What happened?”

“Nothing you need to worry about. Just making a deal.”

Lance was seriously starting to wonder what the hell he got himself into.


End file.
